Aycliffe Today Business Aycliffe Today Business Issue 43 | Page 5

The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 5
/NEWS
Excelpoint managing
director Ian Brown with
The Work Place operations
manager Angela Wilkinson.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
HITACHI CONTRACT BLOW
Newton Aycliffe train manufacturer
Hitachi Rail has lost out on the Tyne and
Wear Metro contract.
Excelpoint expands to new
offices at The Work Place
N
ewton Aycliffe-based software
solution provider Excelpoint is
expanding to new custom-designed
offices within The Work Place on
Aycliffe Business Park.
The new space better accommodates
Excelpoint’s continued growth and enables
the firm to hire additional talent to continue
to provide industry-leading support and
service to its global clients.
The additional space will also help drive
innovation and expansion into new markets,
product lines and services.
“This is an exciting time for Excelpoint
and the move will enable us to deliver on
our long-term ambitions,” said the firm’s
managing director Ian Brown.
“The new office will provide us with
modern and spacious office space, providing
an environment where staff can thrive,
and our customers can enjoy an excellent
customer experience throughout their
journey with Excelpoint.”
Based on Aycliffe Business Park, The
Work Place is a business, training and
conference centre opened in 2008. It was
the culmination of the vision of Jane Ritchie
(MBE) and the VOLT (Vocational Learning
Trust) charity.
The purpose-built centre offers excellent
facilities to a range of clients for office
space, events and training in a perfect
location just off the A1.
Operations manager Angela Wilkinson
said: “We are pleased to welcome
Excelpoint to The Work Place.
“The Work Place is home to many driven
companies, and the arrival of a fast-growing
high-tech business has added a new sector
to our growing family of clients.”
Excelpoint builds agile customer-specific
business applications to achieve process
efficiencies and realise cost savings.
Examples of some of its globally
recognised customers include Cyclife
(EDF Energy), Mitie, Minova Global, Wood
Group, Anglian Water, NHS Trusts, HMRC,
Durham County Council and Taylor Hobson
while SME businesses range from Aura,
Ebac, Xcel Centre, CI Biomass, Chameleon,
and charities include Age UK, Supportive,
Veterans at Ease, If U Care Share and Nacro.
For more information about Excelpoint,
please visit www.excelpoint.co.uk.
Northern Powerhouse minister praises investment opportunities
A
leading government minister has
called on global businesses to consider
investing in County Durham.
Jake Berry, Northern Powerhouse minister,
praised the “passion and drive” of the area’s
“highly-skilled workforce” and described the
county as a “good place to invest” during a
visit to the area.
Mr Berry took a tour of family firm Thomas
Swan in Consett and the Centre for Process
Innovation at the North East Technology Park
(NETPark) in Sedgefield.
“If you’re a business anywhere in the
world, or even in the UK, I think this is a
really good place to invest – and it’s not
just about the sort of plans that the council
comes up with, I think the people who live
here have a real warmth and an absolute
passion and drive that will serve every
business extremely well,” Mr Berry said
during his visit to NETPark.
“If you’re thinking of ‘North-Shoring’, I
completely approve of this – it’s about taking
jobs from London and the south east and
returning them to the north of England – and
I think County Durham’s a wonderful place
to come.
Pictured (left to right): Paul Howell, MP for
Sedgefield; Jake Berry, Northern Powerhouse
minister; Cllr Simon Henig, Leader of Durham
County Council; Cllr Carl Marshall, Durham
County Council’s Cabinet member for economic
regeneration; and Terry Collins, Chief Executive of
Durham County Council.
“There are wonderful people here, a highly
skilled workforce and a very commercial and
forward-looking authority to work with.”
Speaking about the minister’s visit, Cllr
Simon Henig said: “It’s been really positive to
welcome the minister to County Durham.
“I think he recognises just how important
what we have here is for the economy, not
just in County Durham but across the whole
of the North, and that’s very positive as we
move forward with our agenda to bring more
jobs and an economic advance to County
Durham.”
It was announced that the metro
operator Nexus has awarded the £362m
project to Swiss firm Stadler.
The latest blow comes just three weeks
after Hitachi confirmed it had started a
consultation to re-size its factory – with
250 jobs expected to be cut at the
Aycliffe train-assembling facility.
CLIMATE CHALLENGE
Over 120 students from 17 secondary
schools across County Durham are
embarking on a challenge to come up
with business ideas that will protect the
planet.
Future Business Magnates, now running
for its 15th year, will see school teams
of year 8 pupils working closely with
local businesses to develop, create and
present business ideas.
With many countries and local
authorities, including Durham County
Council, declaring a Climate Emergency
and committing to reducing emissions,
this year students are being asked to
come up with a business idea that will
help to save the planet or will tackle
one of the problems caused by climate
change.
LEADERSHIP NETWORK
Managers and small-business owners
across the Tees Valley are coming
together to share their expertise,
thanks to a new initiative spun out of a
successful leadership programme.
Teesside University has established
a Leading Growth Alumni network
to bring together former participants
in its leadership and management
programmes, for a bi-monthly series
of think-tanks, workshops and informal
discussions.
More than 100 people from over 70
companies have been through Leading
Growth and Management Catalyst,
both part of a suite of Teesside
University Business School leadership
programmes, and run from the
Centre for Professional and Executive
Development in Darlington.
More details at tees.ac.uk/business
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